Business this week

Concerns that the instability in Egypt could affect shipping in the Suez Canal and disrupt oil supplies from the Middle East caused oil prices to rise further, with Brent crude topping $100 a barrel in London for the first time since 2008. Oil traded at a lower price on the New York Mercantile Exchange, partly because of a build-up in oil inventories at a big storage facility in Cushing, Oklahoma.

BP outlined a new strategy that it said would make it “safer and stronger”. The energy company plans to increase significantly its investments in exploration, focus on growth in emerging markets and rationalise its business in “mature” areas. It will sell two refineries in America, including its site at Texas City, where 15 workers died in an explosion in 2005. The company announced a headline $4.9 billion loss for 2010 and took a $40.9 billion charge for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Shareholder dividends, suspended during the height of that crisis, were reinstated.

BP also affirmed its commitment to seek “new partnership opportunities”. However, its recently announced partnership with Russia's Rosneft was challenged in court this week by investors in BP's existing Russian venture, TNK-BP, who argue that the Rosneft deal contravenes their arrangement. The judge sent the two sides to arbitration until February 25th. See article

Exxon Mobil, which last month sealed an agreement with Rosneft to develop assets in the Black Sea, made a profit of $30.5 billion in 2010, up by 57% from 2009, on revenue of $383.2 billion.

Nippon Steel, Japan's biggest steelmaker, and Sumitomo Metals, a smaller rival, said they were planning to merge next year. The pair already work together; a merger would make them the world's second-largest steel firm, far behind ArcelorMittal. See article

Alpha Natural Resources and Massey Energy announced a merger in an $8.5 billion deal that creates the world's third-biggest supplier of metallurgical coal to steelmakers.

Going for a song

Citigroup seized control of EMI from Terra Firma Capital Partners, concluding that EMI was insolvent and writing off £2.2 billion ($3.6 billion) of the music company's £3.4 billion debt. Terra Firma acquired EMI in a leveraged buy-out in 2007 and has struggled with a loan it obtained from Citi to fund the deal. The private-equity firm lost a court case last year in which it alleged that Citi had bamboozled it into buying EMI, which is up for sale again. See article

An official first estimate showed that America's GDP increased by 3.2% in the final three months of last year, as consumer spending rose by 4.4%, the fastest clip since the start of 2006. The economy grew by 2.9% for all of 2010.

Trading was poised to restart in Europe's carbon market after a two-week shutdown prompted by hackers stealing electronic carbon-permits from accounts in the Czech Republic and elsewhere. See article

Performance review

Goldman Sachs said it had approved an annual base salary (excluding stock options) of $2m for Lloyd Blankfein, representing a pay rise of 233% for its chairman and chief executive. Net profit at Goldman fell by 38% last year.

BTGPactual, a Brazilian bank, agreed to buy a controlling stake in Banco PanAmericano, which specialises in credit cards and car loans and last November was found to have a $1.5 billion hole in its accounts.

Chrysler reported a loss of $652m for 2010, its first full year of operations since leaving bankruptcy protection and forming a partnership with Fiat. The carmaker would have made a profit in the fourth quarter but for interest it paid on government loans; it insists it is on the road to profitability this year. Earlier, Ford posted net profit of $6.6 billion for 2010, its biggest in 11 years.

What's in your phone?

Google's Android operating system was the most popular platform for smartphones at the end of 2010, according to a report from Canalys, a tech consultancy. Based on shipments, Android was used in 33% of smartphones, vaulting it ahead of Nokia's Symbian (31%), Apple's iOS (16%) and the BlackBerry platform (15%). Apple will probably get a boost this year from Verizon Wireless's new iPhone service in America.

Pfizer's decision to close its leading research centre in Britain produced much political hand-wringing about the future for British commercial science. The centre, in Kent, employs 2,400 people and had developed some of Pfizer's best-known drugs, including Viagra. With demand for some of its products expected to droop in the face of stiff competition from generic rivals, Pfizer is trimming its R&D worldwide.